I remember soc.culture.singapore*, (c20yrs ago) self-policed by PAP-kiddies, to 'rebuff' and 'rebut' anything anyone didn't agree with. That was back when they still thought they could control opinion/comment on the internet.

How little has changed.

* For the younger lot here. This was essentially before the www/web. You didn't have websites (apart from porn lol). You had e-mail, and 'bulletin boards' where people simply discussed topics, no graphics, or HTML, just text.

Just read the half-chinese bird cage liner's title page today... they spun it along the lines of "we do this to protect all those poor people who would otherwise end up in debt and destroy their families". And if you look at that not-so-old paper's website, they have a story titled "Online betting made his life hell".

* For the younger lot here. This was essentially before the www/web. You didn't have websites (apart from porn lol). You had e-mail, and 'bulletin boards' where people simply discussed topics, no graphics, or HTML, just text.

It's called Usenet, and it actually still exists. It's mainly used (still) to facilitate piracy.

AngMoG wrote:Just read the half-chinese bird cage liner's title page today... they spun it along the lines of "we do this to protect all those poor people who would otherwise end up in debt and destroy their families". And if you look at that not-so-old paper's website, they have a story titled "Online betting made his life hell".

p.s. Thx ZZM for the link. Wow! That weird little corner of the internet still exists. I'll have a root around and try and see if I can get a feel for what it's like these days (It used to feel very 'wild west'. People with access to computers and the internet (rare to very rare, back then) getting bullied by the PAP-Youth... lol.

aster wrote:Why not open up to the industry and have online companies operate from Singapore, just like the financial sector? Then they can regulate it, get revenue from it, create jobs, etc.

All of the big ones are already well established and operating from places like Isle of Man and Gibraltar. Just take 'bwin' for example (yes, the Real Madrid 'bwin'). They're in Gibraltar, and on the London Stock Exchange. I can't imagine that's because they found amazing local talent there.